XVII. 1775. in the bill which professes as its object the im- BOOK partial administration of justice? Ministers, said his lordship, have been warned session after session of the danger in which they were involving themselves and the country; but the sources of information which ministers relied upon were the false, partial, illiberal representations of selfish, artful, and designing men, who had held public offices in America, and who by this means were glad to gratify at once their interest, their prejudices, and their revenge. His lordship concluded an excellent speech by moving an amendment to the address-" That, deeply impressed with the melancholy state of public concerns, they would on mature deliberation endeavour to apply the most effectual means of restoring order to the distracted affairs of the British empire, &c. The duke of Grafton now rose to support the amendment, and in a particular manner attracted the attention of the house and of the public, by an open and ingenuous acknowledgment that he had by misinformation and misrepresentation been induced to give countenance to a plan the most abhorrent from his mind and opinionbeing repeatedly assured that the mere appearance of coercion would suffice to establish a perfect reconciliation. His grace declared, that he could no longer hesitate as to the part he XVIL BOOK ought to take, being now fully convinced that nothing less than a total repeal of the American laws passed since the year 1763 could restore peace and happiness, or prevent those fatal consequences which he could not even think of without grief and horror. Such, he said, was the strength of his conviction, that no personal consideration whatever could induce him to refrain from giving his most determined opposition to the measures actually pursued, and to those which he understood were yet in contemplation. After a long and vehement debate the amendment of lord Rockingham was rejected by 69 voices to 29, and the original motion, on a second division, carried by 76 voices to 33. But the lords in the minority entered upon the journals a most spirited and vigorous protest against it. "We have beheld with sorrow and indignation," say their lordships, "freemen driven to resistance by acts of oppression and violence. We cannot consent to an address which may deceive his majesty and the public into a belief of the confidence of this house in the present ministry, who have disgraced parliament, deceived the nation, lost the colonies, and involved us in a civil war, against our clearest interests, and upon the most unjustifiable grounds, wantonly spilling the blood of thousands of our fellow subjects." XVIL 1775. On the resignation of the duke of Grafton, BOOK lord Dartmouth, whose mild temper was ill calculated to enforce the present bloody and coercive measures, was advanced to the dignity of lord privy-seal; and lord George Germaine, so famous, or rather infamous, under his former appellation of lord George Sackville, who, after a long course of opposition, had uniformly voted with the court on the questions relative to America, was appointed to the vacant post of secretary of state for the colonies. The most odious of tasks was now therefore properly assigned to the most odious of instruments. Lord Rochford also at this time choosing to retire from public business, viscount Weymouth was reinstated in the office of secretary for the southern department, resigned by his lordship in the year 1771. -The debate on the address in the house of commons was chiefly distinguished from that of the lords by the high offence which seemed to be taken by many of the country gentlemen, and some other members who usually voted with the administration, at that clause in the speech from the throne in which his majesty mentioned the introduction of a body of his electoral forces into the garrisons of Port Mahon and Gibraltar; and the corresponding clause in the address, thanking his majesty for the same. This was, not without reason, represented as a measure BOOK in the highest degree unconstitutional and danXVII. gerous; and the minister not seeming very will1775 ing to give any satisfaction on this head, many gentlemen left the house without voting. On the report, the opposition was renewed with fresh vigor; and a motion being now formally made by one of the country members for inserting in lieu of the obnoxious clause, the words, "And we will immediately take into our consideration the measure of introducing foreign troops into any part of the dominions of Great Britain without the previous consent of parlia ment ;" the minister began to see the necessity of making some concession; and quitting the high but unsure ground of authority, he now declared, "that though he believed the measure to be right, as other gentlemen for whom he had the highest deference seemed to be of another opinion, he had no objection that the matter should be brought in a regular and parliamentary manner before the house, that its advisers might, if the necessity of the case required it, receive the benefit of an Act of Indemnity." This acknowledgment brought back the deserters to the ministerial standard, and the address finally passed by a great majority. In the sequel, a Bill of Indemnity was actually brought into the house of Commons, and passed with general approbation; but after great debate it was, little to the satisfaction of the public, rejected by the BOOK lords. XVII. On the 10th of November 1775, the duke of 1775 Richmond moved for the examination of Mr. Penn at the bar of the house of lords; to which the peers in administration gave a very reluctant assent. In the course of this remarkable examination, it appeared that no questions had been asked of Mr. Penn, or any enquiry made by ministers, since his arrival in England, although he had been governor of the colony in which the congress held their session, and was held in universal esteem as a man of great candor, ability, and information. He declared his firm belief, "that the congress had hitherto entertained no designs of independency; that the members of that assembly were men of character, fairly elected, and fully competent to declare the sense of their constituents; that the different provinces would certainly be governed by their decisions; that the war was levied and carried on by the colonists, merely in defence of what they conceived to be their undoubted rights and liberties; that the spirit of resistance was general, and that they believed themselves able to defend their liberties against the arms of Great Britain; that the colonies had been greatly dissatisfied with the reception of their former petitions, but had formed great hopes on the success of that |